Few years back, as a pioneer agency banker in Kenya I used to walk in the neighborhood trying to win customers and open new bank accounts using a mobile app. It wasn't easy presenting door to door and meeting almost the same people most of the time. I had decided that I would not stop even when people kept on saying 'no' to the service. Of course, with every 10 people I talked to I was successful with 2-3 and sometimes I opened 10 new accounts in a day. There is joy in looking back and seeing where we came from. To this day, close to 70% of the bank accounts in the area were opened at our agency location. We rose above resistance and that was a great thing.
Why am I starting my story this way? Among the people who could not open a bank account for 2 good years is a customer we call Tim. He used to operate motor cycle taxis popularly known as bodaboda. This guy had several. He was also an informal landlord, owning several open stalls on a road reserve and he received rent each month. Every time I talked about opening a bank account and the benefit of savings and banking, he would remind me that he was buying a piece of land and he paid KES 20,000 each month. According to his argument, he did have any money to keep in a bank account. Tim's story is very different today and he makes good cash deposits each day. He has 2 accounts with different banks which we represent as an agent.
You must be wondering what happened with Tim. The other day, he told me a different story. Tim said we helped him a lot with advice though it took him too long to put anything into practice. As I write this, he no longer operates bodaboda service. He does not even own a motor cycle. Tim is selling charcoal at an open shed that does not qualify to be a premises and that means that his informal business does not qualify for a business permit. As we talked, he told me it costs almost KES 100,000 to have a motor cycle for bodaboda service. Amazingly, he only needs less than KES 5,000 per day to operate his charcoal business. He has 2 outlets each selling 2 bags of 50 kg each day. The sourcing cost of a bag of charcoal is KES 500 and he sells a kg at KES 40 hence making a profit margin of KES 1,500 from a 50 kg bag that cost 500 bob to buy. At the end of each day, Tim make a profit margin of KES 6,000 from the 2 outlets. He was happy to say..."I make more money than I would get from 3 bodaboda motor cycles. A bank officer is able to give me a loan even without a formal business".
Tim's story make a lot of sense. Looking at what he does you may not think he makes any money. Even as a revenue officer working with the government will dismiss him as a poor fellow who is trying to look for just enough to eat! We, in a lot of times chase businesses that have a positive image, those which need lots of capital and we forget the simple ideas. Talking as a business person, I would say that Tim is in the energy sector....only that he deals with charcoal. He could add paraffin, firewood, fire lighters and even advance to charcoal briquettes, petroleum and all manner of energy products.
Watch this space for another story. Another guy I know could not get a job for almost 10 years after university.....you should meet him today. What he drives is likely to be your dream car. I started a unique business, I will talk about that in the coming days.
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